Lundblad, Ida

Abstract [en]

This work's purpose was to raise the question: "How do you create one of the world's

biggest brands?" Having long stood the test of time, the Coca-Cola brand was an obvious choice of research subject. Our thesis is therefore an examination of the Coca-Cola brand's print advertising's appearance over a century's time.

We wanted to examine how historical, ideological and social changes have been reflected in the brand's advertising campaigns. We chose to look at eleven advertisements published in the United States during the years 1900-2000, with a focus on four different time periods in particular.

We selected sociological and ideological theory to understand how society looked and semiotic and rhetorical theory to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of our method. By semiotically and rhetorically analyzing the advertisements, we were able to distinguish different characteristics and elements and see their connection to each other.

After analysing the material we’ve established that Coca-Cola has adapted their advertising to different ideological, historical and social changes through the years which may be one of the reasons Coca-Cola has become succesful.